I have a software that builds a 3D text by using grafx.DrawString() and I need to copy this graphic to clipboard. When I try to do so, it throws a NullReferenceException.
How can I copy the graphics drawn on a PictureBox?
This is the code to draw the text:
Dim grafx As Graphics
Private Sub draw_block_text10()
Dim text_size As SizeF
Dim back_brush As Brush = Brushes.Black 'COLOR FOR THE BOARDER TEXT
Dim fore_brush As Brush = Brushes.Blue 'COLOR FOR THE MAIN TEXT
Dim fnt As New Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", NumericUpDown1.Value, FontStyle.Regular)
Dim location_x, location_y As Single 'USED IT FOR THE LOCATION
Dim i As Integer
'CREATE A GRAPHIC OBJECT IN THE PICTUREBOX.
grafx = Me.PictureBox2.CreateGraphics()
'CLEAR THE PICTUREBOX
grafx.Clear(Color.White)
'LOOK THE REQUIRED SIZE TO DRAW THE TEXT
text_size = grafx.MeasureString(Me.TextBox1.Text, fnt)
'ELIMINATE THE REDUNDANT CAlCULATION AFTER GETTING THE LOCATION.
location_x = (Me.PictureBox2.Width - text_size.Width) / 2
location_y = (Me.PictureBox2.Height - text_size.Height) / 2
'FIRST, DRAW THE BLACK BACKGROUND TO GET THE EFFECT,
'AND THE TEXT MUST BE DRAWN REAPETEDLY FROM THE OFFSET RIGHT, UP TO THE MAIN TEXT IS DRAWN.
For i = CInt(nupDepth.Value) To 0 Step -1
grafx.DrawString(TextBox1.Text, fnt, back_brush, _
location_x - i, location_y + i)
Next
Dim mydataandtimeforsave = DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss")
'DRAW THE ROYAL BLUE FOR THE MAIN TEXT OVER THE BLACk TEXT
grafx.DrawString(TextBox1.Text, fnt, fore_brush, location_x, location_y)
Dim bmp As New Bitmap(Me.PictureBox2.Width, Me.PictureBox2.Height)
Dim g As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
g.Clear(Color.Transparent)
''Perform Drawing here
End Sub
This is the code to copy to clipboard:
Clipboard.SetDataObject( _
DirectCast(PictureBox2.Image.Clone, Bitmap), _
True)
Beep()
Using a Graphics object created from a PictureBox control (PictureBox.CreateGraphics()) to draw on doesn't actually set/change the Image property of the PictureBox. You can confirm that by checking for PictureBox2.Image Is Nothing, which will return true if the PictureBox had no image before drawing on it.
Instead, create an Image with the dimensions of the PictureBox, use Graphics.FromImage() to create your Graphics object, draw what you need to draw, and then assign the image to the PictureBox.Image property.
Something like this should work fine:
Dim bmp As New Bitmap(PictureBox2.Width, PictureBox2.Height)
Using g As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
g.Clear(Color.White)
text_size = g.MeasureString(Me.TextBox1.Text, fnt)
location_x = (Me.PictureBox2.Width - text_size.Width) / 2
location_y = (Me.PictureBox2.Height - text_size.Height) / 2
For i = CInt(nupDepth.Value) To 0 Step -1
g.DrawString(TextBox1.Text, fnt, back_brush, location_x - i, location_y + i)
Next
g.DrawString(TextBox1.Text, fnt, fore_brush, location_x, location_y)
End Using
PictureBox2.Image = bmp
Note: Always remember to dispose the created Graphics object when you finish using it either by calling .Dispose() or by wrapping it in a Using statement like what I did above.
Instead of
Clipboard.SetDataObject(DirectCast(PictureBox2.Image.Clone, Bitmap), True)
Use
Clipboard.SetDataObject(PictureBox2.Image, 2)
How do you add a LineShape programmatically in VB.NET WinForms?
I'm looking to write something like you would for a Label , CheckBox or whatever else:
Dim somelabel as New Label
somelabel.Text = "Whatever"
somelabel.Location = New Point(200, 200)
Me.Controls.Add(somelabel)
Etc.
My purpose is to create thin dividing lines between the rows and columns of 16 Labels that form a 4x4 grid.
I appreciate that, since LineShape is a part of VB PowerPacks, this may present some difficulties, such as having to use Imports ... or, if really necessary, import a .dll. But I'd like to see all your ideas/solutions!
First, import the powerpacks namespace to give you access to the control:
Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic.PowerPacks
Then you could do it like this:
Dim startx As Integer
Dim starty As Integer
Dim endx As Integer
Dim endy As Integer
Dim yourline As New LineShape(startx, starty, endx, endy)
Where startx = the x starting position, starty = the y starting position, endx = the ending x position and endy = the ending y position.
If you want to put it into a canvas, simply:
Dim yourcanvas As ShapeContainer
canvas.Parent = formName
yourline.Parent = canvas
For more information and an API reference, go to:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb918067.aspx
I have a form that is going to allow a user to create custom "stamps" to place on a PDF. The form displays with a image of the first page of the pdf and I want the user to basically click on the screen where they want their stamp and be able to preview what its going to look like. Don't worry about any of the PDF stuff, I have that handled.
To make things snazzy, I have two copies of the image, the normal one and one with reduced brightness. I display the low brightness image and as the user moves the mouse over, a chunk of the original image is revealed or highlighted. I then display in that area the text the user is going to put on the PDF.
I allow the user to use the mousewheel to scroll and change the angle of the text they are placing (from -45 degrees to +45 degrees).
Here is my problem: I can't calculate the proper rectangles/coordinates. Sometimes everything looks great, other times (as font sizes change) they don't quite fit.
How do I calculate the x and y coordinates for:
placement of the rotated text
AND a bounding rectangle padding the text at its width and height with 10px
The code below works, until I start to crank up the font size, then everything gets out of skew.
First two images show text + bounding rectangle at smaller fonts. It looks good:
The next image shows that as the text size gets larger, my pixels are moving all around and gets chopped off. In even larger text, the widths/heights end being way off as well.
Sorry the example images don't show much detail. I have actual data that I can't share.
Private Sub PanelMouseMove(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As MouseEventArgs) '// handles the mouse move (handler added elsehwere)
With CType(sender, PictureBox)
.Image.Dispose() '// get rid of old image
Dim b As Bitmap = _curGray.Clone '// the low brightness image as the base image
'// stamp font and text values are initiated from another form
Using g As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(b),
f As New Font(DefaultFont.FontFamily, CSng(_stmpTools.StampTextSize), If(_stmpTools.StampBold, FontStyle.Bold, FontStyle.Regular))
Const borderWidth As Integer = 10
Const borderPadding As Integer = 5
'// measure the string
Dim szx As SizeF = g.MeasureString(_stmpTools.StampText, f, Integer.MaxValue, StringFormat.GenericDefault)
Dim strLength As Single = szx.Width
Dim strHeight As Single = szx.Height
Dim x As Single = e.X - borderWidth - borderPadding,
y As Single = e.Y
Dim w As Double, h As Double
If Math.Abs(_angle) > Double.Epsilon Then
h = CDbl(strLength) * Math.Sin(CDbl(Math.Abs(_angle)) * Math.PI / 180.0F)
w = Math.Sqrt(CDbl(strLength) * CDbl(strLength) - h * h)
Else
'// its zero. so use calculated values
h = strHeight
w = strLength
End If
'// add space for the 10px border plus 5px of padding
Dim r As New Rectangle(0, 0, w, h)
r.Inflate(borderWidth + borderPadding, borderWidth + borderPadding)
h = r.Height
w = r.Width
'// keep box from moving off the left
If x < .Location.X Then
x = .Location.X
End If
'// keep box from moving off the right
If x > .Location.X + .Width - w Then
x = .Location.X + .Width - w
End If
'// I don't know, but these values work for most smaller fonts, but
'// it has got to be a fluke
If _angle > 0 Then
y = y - h + borderWidth + borderWidth
Else
y = y - borderWidth
End If
'// can't go off the top
If y < .Location.Y Then
y = .Location.Y
End If
'// can't go off the bottom
If y > .Location.Y + .Height - h Then
y = .Location.Y + .Height - h
End If
Dim rect As New Rectangle(x, y, w, h)
g.DrawImage(_curImg, rect, rect, GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
Using br As New SolidBrush(_stmpTools.StampTextColor)
RotateString(_stmpTools.StampText, _angle, e.X, e.Y, f, g, br)
End Using
'//draw bounding rectangle
Using p As New Pen(Color.Black, borderWidth)
g.DrawRectangle(p, rect)
End Using
End Using
'// set the picture box to show the new image
.Image = b
End With
End Sub
Private Sub RotateString(ByVal Text As String, ByVal angle As Integer, _
ByVal x As Integer, ByVal y As Integer, myfont As Font, mydrawing As Graphics, myColor As Brush)
Dim myMatrix As New Matrix
myMatrix.RotateAt(angle * -1, New Point(x, y)) 'Rotate drawing
mydrawing.Transform = myMatrix
mydrawing.DrawString(Text, myFont, myColor, x, y) 'Draw the text string
myMatrix.RotateAt(angle, New Point(x, y)) 'Rotate back
mydrawing.Transform = myMatrix
End Sub
I'm not the greatest when it comes to drawing. So any help would be great
Using the solution below from #LarsTech. I replaced the g.FillRectangle with:
g.DrawImage(_curImg, r, r, GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
_curImg is a copy of the original image with the brightness tuned up. When I change the code from below I end up with:
Note the double lines. They rotate with the stamp, even though they are acting as a background image and should be unrotated
Per suggestion, I changed the DrawStamp from #LarsTech to the following:
Private Sub DrawStamp(g As Graphics, text As String,
f As Font, center As Point, angle As Integer, backImg As Image)
Dim s As Size = g.MeasureString(text, f).ToSize
Dim r As New Rectangle(center.X - (s.Width / 2) - 16,
center.Y - (s.Height / 2) - 16,
s.Width + 32,
s.Height + 32)
g.DrawImage(backImg, r, r, GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
Using m As New Matrix
m.RotateAt(angle, center)
g.Transform = m
Using p As New Pen(Color.Black, 6)
g.DrawRectangle(p, r)
End Using
Using sf As New StringFormat
sf.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center
sf.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center
g.DrawString(text, f, Brushes.Black, r, sf)
End Using
g.ResetTransform()
End Using
End Sub
However, I am now left with
Notice it drew the background, then did the rotation and drew the stamp. It ALMOST works. In this example the straight lines show the intended behavior... however i'm looking to fill the entire stamp with the background. That extra white on the sides would have been what was rotated into the stamp's background. I'm confused because the 'grey' portions I would then suspect to be clipping out parts of the image, but they aren't (if i move it over other areas that I unfortunately can't post on here) notice is out of skew except for the fact that the sides of the rectangle paint as such.
Another Edit with hopefully some more info
Here is hopefully a better explaination of what I am trying to do. I use a third party PDF viewer and I need to allow the user to add an image to the PDF. The viewer doesn't allow me to raise click events on it, so in order to grab user mouse clicks, I do the following:
Take a screen grab of form
Hide the PDF Viewer
Add a PictureBox control to my form, replacing the area where the PDF viewer was
With my screen grab, I make a copy of the image with the brightness reduced
Display the gray scale copy of the image and draw directly on the image using mouse over events on the picturebox
I draw a stamp on the picturebox, but want the background of it to be the original (non adjusted brightness image). However, since the area might be transformed using a rotation, I can't grab the background image. If no angle is provided, the source rectangle matches. However if its rotated, I cannot grab the same rotated rectangle off the source image.
Button Click Event:
Dim bds As Rectangle = AxDPVActiveX1.Bounds
Dim pt As Point = AxDPVActiveX1.PointToScreen(bds.Location)
Using bit As Bitmap = New Bitmap(bds.Width, bds.Height)
Using g As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bit)
g.CopyFromScreen(New Point(pt.X - AxDPVActiveX1.Location.X, pt.Y - AxDPVActiveX1.Location.Y), Point.Empty, bds.Size)
End Using
_angle = 0
_curImg = bit.Clone
_curGray = Utils.CopyImageAndAdjustBrightness(bit, -100)
End Using
Dim p As New PictureBox
Utils.SetControlDoubleBuffered(p)
p.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
p.BackColor = Color.Transparent
AxDPVActiveX1.Visible = False
p.Image = _curImg.Clone
AddHandler p.MouseClick, AddressOf PanelDownMouse
AddHandler p.MouseMove, AddressOf PanelMouseMove
AddHandler p.MouseWheel, Sub(s As Object, ee As MouseEventArgs)
_angle = Math.Max(Math.Min(_angle + (ee.Delta / 30), 45), -45)
PanelMouseMove(s, ee)
End Sub
AddHandler p.MouseEnter, Sub(s As Object, ee As EventArgs)
CType(s, Control).Focus()
End Sub
AxDPVActiveX1.Parent.Controls.Add(p)
After that code I end up with two images. _curgray is an image with adjusted brightness, and _curImg is my original screen grab.
_curGray:
_curImg:
A mouseMove move event is applied to my new picture box. This is where all the code from earlier in the question comes into play.
Using the code above, my mouseMove event keeps creating a new imageto display in my picture box. If there is no rotation involved, I get pretty much what I'm looking for. Notice in the below image how the background of the stamp is brighter than everything. The portion over the blue square is slightly lighter. I am using this a way to draw the viewers eye to this area... its important for what I'm doing.
However, when applying a rotation to it, I cannot seem to copy from the original image. Look at the following image, the backgroundisn't rotating with it. I need to grab a rotated rectangle from the ORIGINAL image.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms142040(v=vs.110).aspx Graphics.DrawImage() accepts
Public Sub DrawImage ( _
image As Image, _
destRect As Rectangle, _
srcRect As Rectangle, _
srcUnit As GraphicsUnit _
)
where I can specify copy this source rectangle from my source image (in this case _curImg) and place onto my new drawing. It does not allow me to apply a transformation to the source rectangle. Basically I want to copy from my source image an area equivalent to the rotated rectangle (based on the transformation from #larstech )
I don't know how to express this concept any clearer. If it still doesn't make sense I will just accept LarsTech answer as the best answer and scrap my idea.
It's just trigonometry:
You know c because you know how wide the original text is, and you know h because you know the height of your text. You also need to know alpha, it's the angle that you rotated your text.
Now you need to work the power of math: First take the small rectangles at the end. In the bottom left you can see, that the angle right of the x is actually 180°-90°-alpha, or 90°-alpha. So alpha is also found on the opposite site. So you can find x:
x = h * sin(alpha)
The same goes for y, but it's either sin(90°-alpha), or cos(alpha)
y = h * cos(alpha)
Next you need to find a and b to complete the rectangle. The large triangle gives you
a = w * cos(alpha)
and
b = w * sin(alpha)
Then just add the parts together:
NewWidth = a + x
NewHeight = b + y
That way you get the size of the bounding box. As for the coordinates, it depends on which point is actually defined when you print the rotated text.
I would try drawing the rectangle and the text together:
Private Sub DrawStamp(g As Graphics, text As String,
f As Font, center As Point, angle As Integer)
Using m As New Matrix
g.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.AntiAlias
g.TextRenderingHint = TextRenderingHint.AntiAlias
m.RotateAt(angle, center)
g.Transform = m
Dim s As Size = g.MeasureString(text, f).ToSize
Dim r As New Rectangle(center.X - (s.Width / 2) - 16,
center.Y - (s.Height / 2) - 16,
s.Width + 32,
s.Height + 32)
g.FillRectangle(Brushes.White, r)
Using p As New Pen(Color.Black, 6)
g.DrawRectangle(p, r)
End Using
Using sf As New StringFormat
sf.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center
sf.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center
g.DrawString(text, f, Brushes.Black, r, sf)
End Using
g.ResetTransform()
End Using
End Sub
The paint example:
Protected Overrides Sub OnPaint(e As PaintEventArgs)
MyBase.OnPaint(e)
e.Graphics.Clear(Color.LightGray)
Using f As New Font("Calibri", 16, FontStyle.Bold)
DrawStamp(e.Graphics,
"Reviewed By Doctor Papa",
f,
New Point(Me.ClientSize.Width / 2, Me.ClientSize.Height / 2),
-25)
End Using
End Sub
Result:
Here I updated the code to "clip" the rotated rectangle so that I can copy that same area from the original image before applying the text and border:
Private Sub DrawStamp(g As Graphics, text As String,
f As Font, center As Point, angle As Integer)
Dim s As Size = g.MeasureString(text, f).ToSize
Dim r As New Rectangle(center.X - (s.Width / 2) - 16,
center.Y - (s.Height / 2) - 16,
s.Width + 32,
s.Height + 32)
Using bmp As New Bitmap(_curImg.Width, _curImg.Height)
Using gx As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
Using m As New Matrix
m.RotateAt(angle, center)
gx.Transform = m
gx.SetClip(r)
gx.ResetTransform()
End Using
gx.DrawImage(_curImg, Point.Empty)
End Using
g.DrawImage(bmp, Point.Empty)
End Using
Using m As New Matrix
g.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.AntiAlias
g.TextRenderingHint = TextRenderingHint.AntiAlias
m.RotateAt(angle, center)
g.Transform = m
Using p As New Pen(Color.Black, 6)
g.DrawRectangle(p, r)
End Using
Using sf As New StringFormat
sf.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center
sf.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center
g.DrawString(text, f, Brushes.Black, r, sf)
End Using
g.ResetTransform()
End Using
End Sub
New Result:
Is it possible to add an outline, one that continues to expand outwards from the text?
Ie: the outside stroke from Photoshop is what I am looking for
I have found a way to have the outline go inside the text, but it is not what I am looking for.
I've looked around, but I haven't been able to find anyone on google who wanted an outter outline.
Thanks
Current inner outline:
Dim grp As Graphics = e.Graphics
Dim gp As New Drawing2D.GraphicsPath
Dim useFont As Font = New Font("Impact", 60, FontStyle.Regular)
grp.TextRenderingHint = Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.AntiAlias
grp.SmoothingMode = Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.AntiAlias
gp.AddString("3000", useFont.FontFamily, FontStyle.Regular, 60, New Point(0, 0), StringFormat.GenericTypographic)
useFont.Dispose()
Dim orangeBrush As New SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(226, 149, 0))
grp.FillPath(orangeBrush, gp)
'This is the stroke below
Dim blackpen As New Pen(Color.Black, 2)
grp.DrawPath(blackpen, gp)
gp.Dispose()
If you reverse the order in which you drawpath and fillpath you can get a outside border for your text.
Is there a way to detect the actual width of text in a vb.net web app? It needs to be dependant upon its font-style and size.
In vb6 you could copy the text into a label and make it expand to fit then measure its width, but this won't work in vb.net.
Update: On further inspection, TextRenderer.MeasureText seems a better option:
Dim text1 As String = "Measure this text"
Dim arialBold As New Font("Arial", 12.0F)
Dim textSize As Size = TextRenderer.MeasureText(text1, arialBold)
See Graphics.MeasureString:
Measures the specified string when
drawn with the specified Font.
Dim myFontBold As New Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 10, FontStyle.Bold)
Dim StringSize As New SizeF
StringSize = e.Graphics.MeasureString("How wide is this string?", myFontBold)
i have just recently done this in one of my projects here is how i did it
Dim textsize As Size = TextRenderer.MeasureText(cbx_Email.Text, cbx_Email.Font)
cbx_Email.Width = textsize.Width + 17
this is in a combobox.SelectedIndex changed sub.
The +17 is for the pixels that the dropdown arrow takes up in a combobox so it doesntcover text.
by using control.font it allows the code to dynamically change no matter what font is being used. Using Control.Text means you can use this on anything and wont have to change the code when changing the text of the control or page.
I wrote this low-end function to do just that without higher-level API's.
It creates a bitmap and graphics object, writes the string to the bitmap, scans backwards for the font edge and then returns the width in pixels
Private Function FontLengthInPixels(inputString As String, FontStyle As Font) As Integer
' Pick a large, arbitrary number for the width (500) in my case
Dim bmap As New Bitmap(500, 100)
Dim g As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bmap)
g.FillRectangle(Brushes.Black, bmap.GetBounds(GraphicsUnit.Pixel))
g.DrawString(inputString, FontStyle, Brushes.White, New Point(0, 0))
' Scan backwards to forwards, since we know the first pixel location is 0,0; we need to find the LAST and subtract
' the bitmap width from it to find the width.
For x = -(bmap.Width - 1) To -1
' Scan from the 5th pixel to the 10th, we'll find something within that range!
For y = 5 To 10
Dim col As Color = bmap.GetPixel(Math.Abs(x), y)
' Look for white (ignore alpha)
If col.R = 255 And col.G = 255 And col.B = 255 Then
Return Math.Abs(x) ' We got it!
End If
Next
Next
' Lets do this approx
Return 0
End Function